An Evening at the Agora

Delicious. ” Hermes dabbed his mouth with a cloth and stood up from the dinner table. He glanced at Markos and Julia. “ Too bad Markos and the girl forgot to get more eels, though. I would have liked a third helping. ” “ I’m so sorry, Hermes, ” Markos’ father, Nikolaos, said. “ I thought we had plenty of eels. It won’t happen again. ” “ Come, my friend, ” Caerus told Hermes. “ Let’s find Dionysus and celebrate the fine evening. ” “ Yes. ” Hermes shot Brody a frown. “ Although I’m not much in the mood for celebrating after today’s chariot practice. ”

美味。”赫尔墨斯用布擦了擦嘴，从餐桌上站了起来。他瞥了一眼马库斯和茱莉亚。 “可惜马库斯和那个女孩忘了多买点鳗鱼。我本来想要第三份的。” “我很抱歉，赫尔墨斯，”马库斯的父亲尼古拉斯说。“我以为我们有很多鳗鱼。这种事不会再发生了。” “来吧，我的朋友，”卡埃罗斯对赫尔墨斯说。“我们去找狄俄尼索斯，庆祝这个美好的夜晚。 “好吧。”赫尔墨斯朝布罗迪皱了皱眉。“虽然在今天的战车练习后，我没有太多心情庆祝。”

Without another word the two gods left. Nikolaos frowned at his wife, who was helping Julia and the other girls clear the dishes. “ That was an embarrassment, ” he said. “ You know that eels are Hermes’ favorite! ” “ How could I predict he’d eat twice as many as usual?” his wife retorted, sounding grumpy. She snapped her fingers at Markos. “ Markos! Go to the agora right now and tell the vendor that we’ll want more eels this week. We want only the freshest ones and plenty of them! ”

两位神二话不说就离开了。 尼古拉斯皱着眉头看着他的妻子，她正在帮茱莉亚和其他女孩收拾碗筷。“这太尴尬了，”他说。“你知道鳗鱼是赫尔墨斯的最爱！” “我怎么能预测到他会吃两倍于平时的东西？”他的妻子反驳道，听起来很是暴躁。她对马库斯打了个响指。 “马库斯！现在就去集市，告诉小贩我们本周要更多的鳗鱼。我们只想要最新鲜的鳗鱼，而且要很多！”

“ Yes, Mother. ” Markos stood up. “ We’ll come along and help you, Markos, ” Julia said. “ Right, Brody?” “ Huh?” Brody looked up from his meal. “ I’m not finished eating. ” “ Come on, ” Julia said, yanking on his chiton so hard that Brody was afraid she was going to pull it right off. He glared at her. Back home he had barely noticed that Julia existed. She was just a nerd who never came to the football games or did anything else interesting. It was a lot harder to ignore her here in ancient Greece. When had she become so assertive?

“是，母亲。”马库斯站了起来。 “我们会和你一起去，然后帮帮你，马库斯，”茱莉亚说。“对吧，布罗迪？” “嗯？”布罗迪从饭菜中抬起头来。“我还没吃完呢。” “快来，”茱莉亚说，用力拽着他的长袍，布罗迪担心她会马上把它扯下来。 他怒视着她。在家乡时，他几乎不怎么注意到茱莉亚的存在。她只是一个书呆子，从来没有参加过足球比赛，也没有做过其他有趣的事情。 在古希腊却很难再忽视她。她什么时候变得如此自作主张？

He sighed loudly and stood up. “ Fine, ” he said. “ I’m exhausted after my long day of training for the Olympics, but whatever. ” He grabbed one last olive and tossed it into his mouth. Soon the three of them were walking toward the agora. “ What do you think?” Julia asked Markos. “ Is there any chance that Brody will get good enough at chariot racing in time to win at the Games?” “ Why don’t you ask me?” Brody said. “ I’m the one who has to do it. And controlling a bunch of crazy wild horses isn’t as easy as it looks. ”

他大声叹了口气，站了起来。“好吧，”他说。“为奥运会训练了一天，我已经筋疲力尽了，但管他呢。”他抓起最后一个橄榄，把它扔进嘴里。 很快，他们三人就朝着集市走去。 “你觉得呢？”茱莉亚问马库斯。“布罗迪有没有机会在战车比赛中取得足够的成绩，从而在奥运会上获胜？” “你为什么不问我？”布罗迪说。“我才是那个必须做的人。控制一群疯狂的野马并不像看起来那么容易。”

“ It didn’t look easy at all, ” Julia said. “ That’s exactly my point. What if you don’t improve fast enough? If you don’t impress Hermes, he might break his promise to let us leave. ” Brody shrugged. “ I have more than a week to practice. Besides, who cares what Hermes thinks of me right now? If I look bad at chariot driving, he’ll be even more impressed when I win on the big day! ” Julia still looked worried. “ I don’t want to get stuck here in ancient Greece forever. ” She glanced over at Markos. “ Sorry, Markos. I don’t mean to offend you. ”

“这看起来一点都不容易，”茱莉亚说。“这正是我的观点。如果你进步不够快怎么办？如果你没有给赫尔墨斯留下深刻印象，他可能会违背让我们离开的承诺。” 布罗迪耸了耸肩。“我有一个多星期的练习时间。再说了，谁在乎赫尔墨斯现在对我的看法呢？ 如果我在战车驾驶方面表现不佳，那么当我在那个重要的日子获胜时，他会更加印象深刻！” 茱莉亚看起来仍然很担心。“我不想永远被困在古希腊。”她看了一眼马库斯。“对不起，马库斯。我无意冒犯你。”

“ Don’t worry, I’ll win, ” Brody said. “ End of story. ” By then they were entering the agora. Several young men were gathered near a fabric vendor’s stall. Brody recognized most of them as other champions. A few waved to him. “ Did you hear the news?” Apollo’s champion called. “ The mighty Alcides arrives soon. ” “ We heard all about it, ” Brody replied. “ So what? I’m glad we’ll finally get the chance to see this guy. ” Artemis’ champion shook his head. “ I’m not so sure I want to see him, ” he said.

“别担心，我会赢的，”布罗迪说。“故事结束。” 这时他们已经进到了集市。几名年轻男子聚集在一家布料商的摊位附近。 布罗迪认出他们中的大多数人是其他冠军。有几个人向他挥了挥手。 “你听到消息了吗？”阿波罗的冠军喊道。“强大的阿尔西德斯很快就要到了。” “我们都听说了，”布罗迪回答。“那又怎么样？我很高兴我们终于有机会见到这个人了。” 阿尔忒弥斯的冠军摇了摇头。“我不太想见到他，”他说。